With the recent passage of legislation, both on the state and federal levels, that requires the use of car seats for all infants and small children, use of such car seats has increased dramatically. Although the primary purpose of child car seats is to restrain the child in the event of a vehicular incident, there is, or should be, a secondary purpose of these seats.
There are numerous occurrences each year where children who have been secured in a car seat have experienced discomfort from the pressure of the harness or restraining straps against their small and fragile bodies. This discomfort usually leads the child to cry or complain and is frequently sufficient to induce older children to attempt to escape from the seat, sometimes while the vehicle is in motion. There are also cases where children have been bruised or severely abraded following a vehicular incident because of the limited area of their body that is directly in contact with the restraining straps.
Although every child car seat currently available must pass the standards of the Federal Motor Vehicles Regulations, and they satisfactorily do restrain the child in the event of a vehicular incident, none of the currently available car seats addresses completely the issue of the true comfort of the child car seat occupant.
Various child car seats have been devised to restrain children in a vehicle. Some of these seats have rigid barriers in front of the child along with the use of harness or restraining straps, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,833 issued Sep. 9, 1997 to Celestina-Krevh et al. Other child car seats merely have as their design the harness or restraining straps shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,965 issued Jun. 16, 1992 to Skold et al.
Another example of a harness or restraint system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,321,247 issued May 23, 1967 to Dillender, where there is a total harness system virtually strapping a child to a regular automobile car seat to preclude movement without involving a specialized child car seat. Still another system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,800 issued Jun. 23, 1987 to Ensign, where a harness-like vestment is used to envelop the child in multiple cocoon-like surroundings in a regular car seat, again to preclude movement without involving a specialized child car seat.
While these examples are not exhaustive, they illustrate the developments in the field of child car seats and the harnessing or restraint of child passengers. Even though these devices work satisfactorily to restrain children, there nonetheless still exists a need for a harness or restraint system for use with a child car seat that is effective both to protect the child during a vehicular incident and also to provide a greater level of comfort to the child while secured in the seat.